Health's Blog (Page 1)

The same golden-hued spice added to curries and in mustard is now making waves as turmeric tea. Deservedly so: turmeric seems to boast a slew of benefits.

Turmeric's health-boosting properties comes mostly from the compound curcumin. There's a dizzying amount of research on curcumin that has linked it with improving everything from osteoarthritis to cancer, psoriasis, diabetes and depression. One particularly interesting study out of Vanderbilt found that when mice inhaled curcumin (please don't try this at home), it crossed into the brain and cleaned up plaques that build up and lead to Alzheimer's....

For decades, we considered saturated fat and cholesterol to be the demons in our diets when it came to heart disease. It was the message consistently presented by the American Heart Association (they still recommend limiting saturated fat). And it's what the science pointed us to believe: cut down on saturated fat because it's linked to an increased risk of heart disease. So what did we do? Replaced bacon with muffins, chose sugary cereals over buttered toast and eggs, and almost always went for the low-fat option—which usually meant more sugar in our diets.

Despite the fact that most of us aren't professional athletes, it's still a good idea to fuel your body when you're active. Buying sports drinks, gummies, gels and bars can get expensive—not to mention, they can have some questionable ingredients. So it's a good thing recent studies have shown that foods you probably already have in your pantry can work just as well. Whether you're training for a marathon or just lacing up for the first time, here are some simple sports nutrition tips on how you can feed your inner athlete naturally.

It may be because I'm a nutrition nerd, but I'm pretty excited about the FDA announcement today about changes to the nutrition facts panel on food packages. I scour nutrition labels as part of my job. I used to teach people how to shop at the grocery store and it always made me proud to hear them say shopping took twice as long because they were reading all the labels. OK, so grocery shopping doesn't need to take two hours, but it's important to know what you're eating. Some of the changes to the nutrition facts label make it easier to find the information you need to make healthy food choices.

My daughter was 9 months old when she had her first allergic reaction to food—scrambled eggs. Almost immediately, she began rubbing her lips and face uncontrollably. Helplessly, I watched as tiny pink hives began to appear all over her face. As a new mom, it was a terrifying experience. In hindsight, though, it was a relatively minor reaction compared to when she ate cashews and we had to rush her to the ER. And we would relive it again when some noodles at a restaurant made her lips swell. And then again when her little brother tried eggs for the first time.